doug

im going to spend a couple days in sydney in may, im a cheap guy, so id like to get something cheap....hostel? or?...what beaches can i see there? do the babes go topless?

libby

check out www.wotif.com. for some of the deals around. <BR>Also there are some really good hostels which you can access by searching Sydney Accommodation.

Alan

Hi, Doug!<BR><BR>I always think the Criterion on the corner of Pitt and Park is the undiscovered bargain of Sydney... it's not a hostel, but an old-fashioned hotel, so you can get a single room but you will share a bath (that is, if there's anybody else on your floor). Rooms were under $50 a night when I last checked, 18 months ago, and unless you want to pay by the week, you probably wouldn't do that well at a hostel! (If a hostel is your heart's desire, however, go for the one at Central Station... probably called the Central Youth Hostel, as it's close to transport, has a cafeteria, and is in a beautiful old building.)<BR><BR>There are other cheap hotels around too, but even the cheapest of those wouldn't be more than five or ten dollars a night cheaper than the Criterion (if you want these, I can look them up for you). But the absolute-bottom cheapies are all in areas where you wouldn't really be seeing the best of Sydney -- the "wrong side" of Sydney Terminal Station -- whereas the Criterion is in a position which beats every other hotel in Sydney hands down... because it's been there for seventy years, long before the Hyatts and the Mercures and the Marriotts ever existed. Consider this: you are one block from Sydney Town Hall; one block from the Queen Victoria Building; one block from the Town Hall subway station; one block from the Woolworths Convenience Store, so you can buy at grocery-store prices and eat in your hotel, if you want to save money on food; across the street from the Monorail station; one diagonal block from the cinema strip, which is also full of McDonalds and Burger Kings and Taco Bells; one block from the Pitt Street Mall, where Sydney's best department stores are situated. What you won't have is a view, as the hotel is only three storeys tall. And the water is about ten minutes walk away (Darling Harbour) or nearly twenty minutes (Circular Quay). You can check out this hotel, and lots of others, on www.cyberspace.com.au/ta/hib.htm.<BR><BR>There are topless areas on many of the beaches, even the family ones like Bondi, and there are also one or two nude beaches (I think maybe Reef Beach is one), but, to be honest, I am far from an expert on this aspect of Sydney life, so I should yield now to those who know what they're talking about.

Alan

Doug, a couple of other bargain-basement accommodation suggestions in Sydney: the Grand on Hunter Street (great central location) late last year advertised single rooms $A55, double $77, triple $88, family $99. It's a NICE building... but I don't know if those rates are still available. The Duke of Cornwall, near the Powerhouse Museum and five-minutes walk from Darling Harbour (through Chinatown) recently sported a sign outside promising rooms for $200 per week. A bit run-down looking... really a drinking pub with a few rooms.... but with the basement eateries of Chinatown allowing you to fill a plate as high as you like for $6 after about 7 p.m., you could eat and sleep in Sydney for less than $40 a day. Cheap enough for you?

elfin

Wow Alan thanks for that information. I am coming down to Sydney in June and will take note of those places - you can't do better than those prices ANYWHERE. More to spend on other things then. <BR>

doug

thank u very very much for your great suggestions! u are very helpful. its great having the internet, to meet such fine people! bye the way, im not a perv, i was just curios about the babes. being a healthy young canuck eh! thanx again!